Lost In Ice
by GrimNargle
Summary: A young man born of both Falmer and Nordic blood leaves his home of Blackreach,forsaken by his tribe. On his adventures in Skyrim he will meet new people and face new challenges;all while he unknowingly finds his fate. (please give reviews and advice)
1. Chapter 1

He walked to the gates of Whiterun shrouded in a cloak of ugly black similar to that of soot or coal. He was pale,from what little one could see of his face,and short with a hunchback like he had lived in a low lying cave his whole life. Upon closer inspection one could see that he wore a blindfold and that his fingers and teeth were sharpened to a point. However,despite his appearance no one paid him any mind;stranger people had walked into the city before and he was no different in the eyes of the city guard.

Without a word he walked through the open gates and into city. The day was bright and sunny,a rare treat in the province of Skyrim,and the people made small talk on the side of the street. He looked at none of them,merely walked down the street and to the tavern at the end in which he took a seat in the darkest spot he could find. To his relief no one payed him any mind,not even the owner.

As he sat quietly he observed and listened to the people cheer and drink with songs of the heros of old. Men sat around the table and played games while others spoke of tales that could or couldn't have been true.

Such a common sight for anyone who lived near Skyrim or anywhere else for that matter. However,he was not from this part of the land;no,he hailed from a cold dark world deep in the earth. His the world was loud and hot with machines,the residents were cruel and always ready to fight. He was from Blackreach,a city deep under the earth;dark enough for him to not need a blindfold and bright enough to where he could see. He listened to the almost alien world around him and let loose a small smile.

"May I sit here?"

A female,he knew before he even heard her speak. She smelled sweet and her footsteps were light. He could hear the sound of robes rubbing together and sensed a faint magic from her. She was likely a mage,which struck him as odd seeing as how the people of this land seemed to have a negative disposition towards magic.

He thought of the words she had used and then carefully thought of the word to use in turn in this language.

"Yes."He felt that it was satisfactory as an answer,after all anything more complex might risk him getting it wrong.

She sat beside him quietly and asked for the waitress. Soon she was drinking what he guessed was some kind of mead.

"So what's your name stranger?"She spoke in a gentle but excited voice.

"Balfaith."He spoke silently so as to let no one else hear.

She tilted her head a little almost as if struggaling to remember somthing. She stared at him for a bit;observing and judging him almost as if to get in his head.

"Mine is Frellyn;Frellyn the Breton."She spoke like they were going to be best friends.

After a little small talk,in which it took much effort for him to keep up with Frellyn and her vocabulary,she said goodbye and he was alone again;He let out a sigh. The residents of the surface world seemed to be rather talkative which was much different than what he was used to. He went and carefully asked for a room which he paid for then went to go to sleep for the night.

" _Tomorrow I'll be on my way to finding a new home."this was what he_ thought to himself before he finally went into a deep sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

It was dark and humid with the familiar sound of gears turning and steam hissing through the ruins. The Falmer shaman was observing him,though she had no eyes he could tell that she was focusing on him.

She was pale and you could see the veins in her skin,what one could see of her eyes only showed black and her teeth and nails were bloody and sharp. She dressed in traditional clothes,showing her rank in the tribe,with a staff forged from chaurus shell. He,unlike other members of his tribe,could see;he was only half Falmer,and it was obvious.

His eyes were a pale ice blue,that almost seemed to glow in the light of the tall luminescent mushrooms. His skin was white but not the ugly pale of his fellow Falmer and his hair was blond to the point of near snow. His teeth and nails were sharp and his ears were long and pointed. He stood hunched to the point where his knuckles nearly touched the ground. He was capable of standing straight,but chose not to out of comfort.

The fellow members of his tribe spoke,mulling over something,but he couldn't tell due to their low voices. Finally the shaman silenced them with a quick click of her staff on the ground. She spoke in a primitive tongue more similar to grunts then words;when the words that she spoke came out he felt his stomach turn upside-down and he fell over hard on his back;Balfaith was to be banished from Blackreach.

He shot up with a start,his heart was racing and his body felt sickeningly hot. He could remember the dream he had just had but the room around him was dark and without light. It was just a nightmare;that's what he believed until his ears heard the sound of the lute and flute playing down in the main room of the tavern.

He felt his heart recoil with disappointment. Of course it wasn't a dream,he had just hoped so badly that it was. He got up and realized he wasn't on his warm soft bed;he had fallen out of his bed from the memory. He let out a light groan and cursed in his tribes tongue at the pain in his back,he must have hit something sharp on his descent to the floor.

Balfaith made his descent down the stairs and into the main room;he was greeted by booming music and singing that made him wish he was deaf.

 _"Do all surface dwellers wake up loud?"_ He thought had found that a majority of the residents of the surface woke up loud and obnoxious,much to his dismay.

He picked up a stray mug of ale,which was certainly abandoned the night before, and went to the dark corner in which he proceeded to sip on his newly acquired beverage. He hated the toxic brew but he was low on septims and after all,beggars can't be choosers. He hated the price of life up on the surface and getting money was a pain. He barely managed to get the little he had together,which he had obtained in his last temporary rest stop with less than ideal residents.

"Well,well if it isn't my friend from last night!"The voice came in a high gleeful tone which belonged to Frellyn;the girl he had met the night before.

Balfaith silently cursed to himself before speaking in the closest thing he could obtain to joyful so early after he had awoken.

"Hello miss Fellyn."Balfaith said with as much kindness as he could.

"Well I guess we're not much of a morning person are we?"She spoke as if he were a small child after it's nap.

"Not really."He had stopped trying to hide his lack of enthusiasm as it was to much effort.

"Well I know what might wake you up."She spoke slower and with a slight mischievous tone.

He sighed,which she apparently mistook as interest because she continued to speak.

"I was asked to obtain a family trinket,a pickaxe,which was stole by some bandits not far from here in a fort. I would like you to come along to keep me company and possibly help if I get into trouble"She spoke like a child who was about to tell her parents of a misdeed she had just done.

"No."He was getting rather annoyed with her and did not want to continue this conversation much longer.

"I'll pay you two-hundred septims."She smiled innocently though he could not see.

Balfaith's ears stood up.

"If it's only a little ways what can it hurt."He had given in,but it was the easiest way to get money. Besides,he was raised by Falmer and the surface dwellers were no stronger than the machines in Blackreach.

"Great! Let's get a move on then!"She jerked him up with surprising strength and all but drug him out of the tavern.

The day was slightly cloudy but it was still nice compared to the snow covered Pale. As they exited Frellyn made a turn to the right which led to a part of town where Balfaith had not been. They walked up the stairs and around the large tree in the town.

It looked dead like it had went into it's unending slumber long ago. Balfaith could sense otherwise;the tree was merely asleep waiting for something to wake it back up. It had an odd magical power about it but he could not quite figure it out. He had apparently stopped because Frellyn was tapping her foot impatiently.

"You act like you haven't ever seen the Gildergreen before."She said impatiently

"Gildergreen? Is that the name of the tree?"He asked more focused on figuring out what the energy was.

"Yes,yes;it's a tree that is a symbol of Kynareth and it's sacred and so forth."She spoke while beginning to pull him away from the tree.

"Now come on. We're going to the temple to pray to Kynareth."She said hurrying.

They went to the temple and Frellyn prayed;Balfaith did not;he did not understand the religion of the surface. The temple was made with light shining in from the glass in the ceiling and water filled four corners of a cross shaped path in the middle of the floor. An altar to what he could only believe was Kynareth stood near the wall in front of him. It was quiet except for the praying of those in the temple;Balfaith merely sat down until Frellyn finished praying till they left for the fort.

They left through the city gates and went to the fort;which according to Balfaith's newly found "friend" was not far away. Luckily for him she was right it wasn't far and they got there by noon. It wasn't to bad either,it was only well guarded with bandits and makeshift barricades. Of course she had made it sound easy he wouldn't have come so early if it was hard even with two-hundred septims.

"Here we are,Fort Greymoor."She sighed happily.

He cursed himself for agreeing to this. He had succumbed to his need for gold; why did he have so little gold and better yet,why was everything so expensive?


	3. Chapter 3

They crouched in the bushes;the sun was setting behind the mountains and the air was cooling. They watched as a bandit patrolled the wall around the fort;Balfaith began to wonder if the man was even a man at all. Him and Frellyn had been waiting for hours; she promised that getting the trinket back for whoever she was getting it for would be easy. He had come under the promise of easy money and had gotten a bandit hive.

" _I could just walk away from this and keep going. It's not my problem anyway."_ He thought still trying to convince himself to leave.

Frellyn pulled a bow from her back and aimed it at the patrol on the wall. Stranger based on her appearance Balfaith thought that she would use magic. The patrol had not noticed them and if she could take him out they could get in quietly.

"Stop that!"Balfaith hissed to her. "What if there are more inside!"

"What do you expect me to do,or do you have a better idea?"She thought for a bit "How did you know I was aiming at something?"

He paused to quickly come up with a answer "Not important. Look,maybe we can find an entrance somewhere else. We both take a side and meet in the back;if one of us finds something we can sneak in through."

"Hm,fine but if this fails we go in my way."She said with suspicion

"Ok."He sighed

They split up and went around the fort each going as quietly as they could. Balfaith was good at being quiet even when he was blind he could easily go unseen by others. He slipped in and out of the shadows without a sound until he got close enough to the wall where he wouldn't be seen walking and proceeded to walk around looking for any opening.

* * *

Frellyn moved roughly through the bushes;she had gotten a bit of distance from the fort and was hiding behind the hills and bushes to hide. She was about to go to her side of the fort when she saw a bandit. He stood in the shadows like he was waiting for any intruders to take the approach they had.

Had another one caught Balfaith? If they had it meant that an entrance was hiding around the fort. They might have taken him inside and imprisoned him,or just killed him. She took out her bow and nocked an arrow back aiming at her target. She let out a slow,solid breath and let the arrow went flying through the air hitting the target square in the left side of his chest. Just then something grabbed her and threw her back hard on the ground. When she looked up it was a large redguard that was more the size of an orc than a man.

"Well,looks like we have a little rat skulking around."He grinned.

Frellyn quickly grabbed a knife and threw it at him,but he caught it with ease.

"And I thought that getting firewood would be boring!"He laughed gruffly.

Frellyn quickly got her bow and jumped to her feet knocking back another arrow. She let it loose but he dodged it without any effort. She tried a few more times but he just dodged them without even taking a step and looking bored.

"Well if that's all ya can do little rat,guess it's time to quit playing. After all I can't let the forge get cold."He said.

He rushed forward with surprising speed and knocked her up into the air. She was still processing what had happened when she felt his fist impact hard on her back. She screamed as she hit the ground feeling the shock through her whole body. Just then she looked up and saw the man she had shot lying in his own blood. She mumbled incoherently as he walked slowly closer taking his time and savoring his preys descent into despair.

"Let's finish rat."He grinned.

Just as he was about to deliver the finishing the final blow and arrow his him in the leg making him stagger and nearly fall. He looked up from his leg to see the man knocking back another arrow. He turned white at the sight of it the man was covered in blood and had an arrow in his chest;it was the bandit she had just shot. He hadn't even managed to collect himself when the next arrow struck his skull,killing him.

Frelyn got up slowly,still feeling the pain of his blows. She hated using necromancy,but she hadn't had formal training in any other art. She walked past the man with the bow and listened to him groan as she freed his corpse of the spell. She kept walking hoping that Balfaith was okay;she needed someone as comfort,even if it was some stranger she barly knew.

As she went around back she found he wasn't there. She hoped he had just gotten sick of waiting and went inside but she feared the worst. She decided to walk around to the other side of the fort to look for an entrance and found that a hole wasn't far from the back. It went into the lower fort and had been covered with boards but now it was open the boards placed in a pile. She crawled inside the hole and found herself in a small tunnel that opened up at the end;it smelled like skeever and blood,which she decided was a terrible mixture of vomit worthy proportions.

When she finally was able to stand straight she found herself in a small tunnel that seemed to be used for storage. The ground was covered in a layer of water that had been stagnant for what seemed like quite some time by the green and brown tent of dirt and moss. The floor had bear traps on it,probably for catching the skeevers that had meet their unfortunate fates at the sharp metal jaws of the traps.

She saw a stairwell across from where she entered she found a stairwell leading up and decided to go that way. She slowly made her way up but found it strangely silent then she tripped over something. As she looked down she found a man dead,his throat slit and bleeding.

* * *

"About time."Balfaith whispered annoyed.

Frellyn jumped he had walked right up on her without her noticing.

"Let's get going. I saw more bandits up on the next few floors."He said.

She nodded and they went up the stairs. They saw a bandit in the room who ws humming over a fire,most likely cooking. Balfaith snuck behind the bandit leading Frellyn like a child by the hand. They continued this way with Balfaith killing only two men;each unknowing of the doom that had quietly snuck up on them before feeling a dagger pierce their neck. When they got to the top room they found a large chest which seemed Balfaith went to first thing. Frellyn had seen the pickaxe on a table across the room and went to pick it up.

No sooner had she laid her hands on the pickaxe then had a man struck her from behind. She felt the cold sting of the blade pirce her skin and the sting of pain. When she fell aginst the table and looked over she found Balfaith knocked out. He had opened the chest unaware that it had been rigged. Then she looked up to see the man that had struck her.

He was much slimmer that the man that had attacked her earlier and was pale. He wielded a dagger made from steel and had the look of someone who was untrustworthy even amongst bandits. She quickly passed out thinking that she was a fool to let her guard down.

* * *

Balfaith awoke from a nightmare his eyes shooting open. No sooner had they opened than had he regretted it and shut them tightly. He thought back to what had happened. He had went to the large chest lured by the prominent metallic smell of gold and when he opened it he felt something hit him hard in the head. He sighed;he was getting to be like the people of the surface going after money without thought and now he and Frellyn were tied up.

He heard the footsteps of someone coming into the room. Whoever he was he smelled strongly of ale,he could smell it before he heard the footsteps. The man walked into the room and laughed.

"You two outta make for good entertainment;my men have been hoping for some fun toys to beat up."He voice sounded so much like a scrachy squeak that Balfaith thought of a skeever.

He walked up close to Balfaith likely thinking he was still passed out. He hissed in anger.

"Imma beat you to death myself;you killed six of my men."

Balfaith took the moment and bulled his legs around the man's head and holding tight. He felt the man squirm and then go still and let go after another minute to make sure. He bit the ropes on his wrists, it was rather easy thanks to his sharpened teeth. He then untied Frellyn. He got his blindfold,wrapped it around his eyes and picked the pickaxe back up.

"Frellyn wake up."He shook her until he heard her stir.

"Ow,my back. What happened?"She groaned groggily.

"We were knocked out,now let's go I got the pickaxe and I'm pretty sure there is a ladder somewhere."He spoke quietly.

She groaned and he helped her up and helped her climb the ladder. Luckily the guard seemed to be having a party in the courtyard and they escaped through a collapsed wall. No sooner had they gotten to the other side than Frellyn had passed out from blood loss;Balfaith picked her up and went quickly to town carrying her.

" _Yeah easy. Worst lie he ever heard."_ He smiled subconsciously " _Oh well,at least it wasn't boring."  
_


	4. Chapter 4

The little boy sat there and played with a beautiful woman in front of him. They looked so different one wouldn't have guessed they were mother and son. He had bright blond hair and she had dark brown locks. They were both pale but his was that of snow while hers was like cream;his ears pointed and long while hers were round. THe biggest difference of all though,were their eyes. Both had large eyes but hers were brown and the irises smaller. His were bright and blue and nearly glowed making them seem as if they were filled with magic.

He giggled when she poked his stomach and she smiled. A member of the tribe came by and snarled in disapproval. The young boy hid behind his mother from the ugly looking creature;he hid himself,burying his face in her dress. When the creature walked away she comforted him then they went back to playing. He went into fits of uncontrollable laughter when she tickled him and the trouble seemed to pass.

* * *

Balfaith awoke slowly and drowsily. He had been dreaming but he couldn't remember what it was about. He often had dreams like this;ones that he couldn't remember and the harder he tried the more they turned into a fog that was untouchable. He knew it was useless,but he always tried to remember with disappointing results. He sighed annoyed;why did they always haunt him like ghosts?

He looked over to Frellyn who was still passed out on the bed. They were in Whiterun at the room Balfaith bought in the Bannered Mare. She lay there sleeping soundly and likely to be that way for a while. Balfaith leaned back in his chair and listened to the music that was playing in the main room. It was a song of the "Dragonborn" which,from what he could tell,was some nord story.

After they escaped their imprisonment at Fort Greymoor Balfaith took the unconscious Frellyn to a nearby abandoned home to try and do some healing. As soon as he had laid her down he heard the voices of what he could only assume were the bandits. He picked her up and ran all the way back to the inn. There he proceeded to heal her with some spells and close the wound. She was likely to be out for a while still though.

It was strange to hear her quiet. In the short very time he had known her he had gotten used to her talking. If she wasn't speaking,the air was so tense with danger that you heard your own heartbeat in your ears. Just hearing her sleep and not listening to her talk one would think she wasn't there or perhaps a figment of the imagination. If not for her state it would have been rather nice.

When she woke up he was going to demand that two-hundred septims she promised him. After that he would be on his way. He thought he should be demanding more but,considering he was so greedy and lacked caution,it was technically his fault she got injured. He decided to get some rest before he had to get back on the road so he closed his eye and was quickly sound asleep.

* * *

Frellyn woke up quickly and bolted up. She stopped and regretted it immediately when she felt a sharp pain in her back. She ground her teeth to avoid screaming and slowly lay back down on the bed. She had almost forgot that she had been ambushed along with Balfaith;was he okay,had they killed him?

Just then she noticed the smell of mead and the sound of the lute playing. She moved her head to look around and found that she was in an inn. How had she gotten here and more importantly;who took her here?

She looked over and saw Balfaith asleep in a chair near the wall. She laughed quietly now getting the general idea.

"Just who are you?"She whispered in wonder.

He could see even though he was blind and had somehow gotten them out of the bandits clutches. Most mysterious of all were his looks and name. He looked like an elf but none she had ever seen and his name wasn't any elven name she had heard. He was a mystery wrapped in an enigma and she was fascinated.

She slowly sat up and moved her hand to her back where that knife had struck. Nothing was there at least not that she could feel.

"Add healer to that."She said to herself.

* * *

Just then Balfaith woke up. He had been having a pleasant dream until her voice woke him. He got up and walked over to her sitting on her bed side.

"Are you feeling okay?"He said dully.

"Still in a little pain but yeah."She smiled,strangely happy about his worry.

"Good,then pay me the two-hundred septims you promised."He spoke as if in a hurry.

Frallyn paused. "Yeah,about that."She spoke like a guilty kid.

"Don't tell me…"He knew what she was going to say.

"I'm actually broke."She laughed nervously.

Balfaith sighed,for some reason he wasn't surprised. But it didn't change the fact that he was angry. They sat there in silence both thinking about their next course of action.

Frellyn spoke slowly "But maybe you could travel with me until I get the money."

Balfaith frowned at her;letting her know that he was not amused by what he thought was a joke.

"Oh come on. It won't be that bad we can have eachothers backs like partners."She was still nervous.

Balfaith relaxed some letting the feeling of being trapped ease off of Frellyn.

"Fine but you give me an extra septim for every day I'm stuck with you."He said with annoyance.

"Oh."Frellyn paused. "Ok that's fair I guess."She sighed;now she was in debt to a practical stranger.

"Then it's a deal;now,get some sleep,we head out tomorrow. Your wound should completely heal by then."He said walking back to his chair to go back to sleep.

Frellyn wasn't sure when Balfaith had gotten control of the situation but she had no complaints about getting more sleep.

" _She's not that bad but I can't just let her get away with lying to me."Balfaith thought before going back to sleep._

* * *

Balfaith woke up;apparently very early from the lack of sound at the inn. He wasn't surprised,after all he had lived underground his whole life,time wasn't something that his people payed much attention to. He heard Frellyn sleeping,and once again was surprised at how quiet she was when she slept.

He got up and walked down the stairs into the main room. Everyone had probably went to bed or gone home for the night. The only person up was the innkeeper's daughter and she seemed like she was about to go to sleep herself.

He found it odd that neither mother or daughter were similar. Though he couldn't see them the differences were there. They sounded different and they smelled different. Both of their magical energies were different as well. He didn't pay it much mind though;he found the difference miniscule. The surface people had strange customs and this might have just been another one.

He sat down in front of her,this apparently woke her because she jumped at his sitting down. He placed twenty septims down on the table signifying that he wanted something.

"What'll it be?"She asked. Her voice was young and even half asleep one could tell she had life in her.

"Some bread and mead."He spoke quietly so as to not wake up anyone else.

"Okay."She went back into another room and came back with some bread and some Black-Briar Mead.

"Thanks."He picked up the bread and ate the pieces he tore off in between drinks of mead.

She sat there and looked at him almost like he was an alien. He was used to it;people usually paid him no mind but when they started paying attention to him they noticed he was strange and that he somehow didn't belong.

"Are you blind?"The young woman behind the counter asked.

"No,but the light hurts my eyes."He spoke dully. He was too tired to keep worthless secrets from someone who he didn't care about.

She blew out a few of the remaining candles and looked back at him. He knew what she wanted; they were all curious of what a seemingly blind man's eyes were like. Usually he didn't humer them but he wanted to see normally again. He took of his blindfold and looked at her.

She had brown skin similar to a light mocha. Her eyes were brown but bright. Her hair was short and dark but nothing was special about her. Well,other than the face she was making.

"What are you?"She gasped amazed.

His eyes were blue like ice and they seemed to glow magically. Despite his sharp teeth and nails his eyes were gentle. They did not give one a sense of alarm but more a sense of comfort;cool and surrounding.

"Just a passerby. I'm no more special than the next."He knew it was a lie to her but to him it was true.

After a few more minutes of eating and her awkward staring,which was even more awkward now that he could see her. He went back to his room. Frellyn was still sleeping and for the first time he could get a good look at her.

She was slim with a blond hair tinted slightly red. It was long and flowing and made her look rather mystical. The robes she wore bore the signs of an apprentice mage. She had a calm face,at least for the moment,that seemed almost harmless. He put his blindfold back on and sat down in his chair to get some more sleep.

"Well that explains why no one ever annoys her about being a mage."He whispered to himself.


End file.
